The
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) hates us. Who? According to several
reports they have released over the past year, “us” is the
following: One concerned over the economy; loss of jobs; foreclosures;
antagonism toward the Obama Administration (that it’s racist);
criticism of free trade programs like NAFTA and the Security and Prosperity
Partnership; anti-abortion; oppose same-sex marriage; believe in the
“end times;” stock pile food, ammunition and weapons; oppose
illegal immigration; opposition to the new world order; opposition to
the United Nations; opposition to global governance; fear of Communist
regimes; opposition to loss of US manufacturing to overseas nations;
opposition to loss of US prestige; use of the Internet (or alternative
media) to express these ideas. Did this list miss anyone reading it?
You are all haters and potential terrorists.

The
above list was published in a report issued last year by the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) entitled, “Right-wing Extremism:
Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization
and Recruitment.” The report, while issued by the DHS, was
in fact, written by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which labels itself
as a civil rights organization which “tracks the hate movement.”
Ironically, SPLC is becoming one of the biggest purveyors of hate and
discord in the nation. Worse, SPLC’s reports are often so inaccurate
and misleading that they would be simply laughable if they didn’t
have the support of the Federal government.

Now,
SPLC has issued two new reports aimed at the growing freedom movement
and last November’s Continental Congress 2009, for which I was
a delegate.

In
its latest report entitled, “Rage on the Right: The Year in Hate
and Extremism,” issued March 2, 2010, SPLC sounds the alarm that
the “patriot” movement is growing. They, of course, are
alarmed about this. Again, SPLC lumps groups fighting such issues as
healthcare with groups like the National Socialist Movement –
the white supremacist group. The connecting issue between the true freedom
movement and skin heads is opposition to illegal immigration. That’s
enough, according to SPLC, to get anyone opposed to illegal immigration
labeled as a white supremacist. You see, in their view, the reason we
want the borders closed and the flood of illegals stopped is because
they have brown skin – we’re racists, of course.

Also,
according to the SPLC, 2009 saw a dramatic rise in the growth of hate
groups, from 926 to 932. Of course, they are the ones picking who the
hate groups are. And what do they base the selection on? The growth
was “driven largely by an angry backlash against non-white immigration
and, starting in the last year of that period (2009) the economic meltdown
and the climb to power of an African-American president.”

Fear
and frustration were the fuel for the rise in hatred, according to SPLC.
“The anger seething across the American political landscape…goes
beyond the radical right,” the report said, adding that the rage
was fed by “radical changes in the population, soaring public
debt and the terrible economy, the bailouts of bankers and other elites,
and an array of initiatives by the RELATIVELY LIBERAL Obama administration
that are seen as ‘socialist” or even fascist.” The
report went on to say, “The ‘tea parties’ and similar
groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered
extremist groups, but they are shot through with rich veins of radical
ideas, conspiracy theories and racism.” This, says SPLC, is giving
rise to militant militia groups.

Obviously,
according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, it is extremism to oppose
any policy coming out of Washington, and only a hater of blacks would
oppose Barack Obama.

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The
most comical report yet to come out of SPLC is one entitled “Midwifing
the Militias.” That report attempts to reveal the root of
the growing anti-government sentiment and places it on the Continental
Congress2009 that convened in St. Charles, Illinois last November. Said
the report, “Convened by long-time radical tax protester Bob
Schulz, who had been attacking the Fed and the Internal Revenue Service
for decades, this remarkable gathering appears to have played a key
role in launching the current resurgence of militias and the larger
anti-government “Patriot” movement.”

I
was a delegate to that Congress, representing Virginia. There were 115
delegates from 48 states. I certainly don’t want to downplay what
I consider to be important work, specifically the creation of the Articles
of Freedom that were the product of the Congress. The Articles
are now being presented to every member of Congress and every state
legislature. However, the fact is, to date, most in the freedom movement
have never heard of the Continental Congress and, so far, have felt
little impact from its efforts.

There
was absolutely no connection to militant militias and never were there
words uttered indicating violence as a plan of action. To the contrary,
Schulz is a lawyer and the purpose of the Congress was basically to
state what we believed to be violations to the Constitution to be presented
to our elected leaders. That was it. Now, he plans legal action in the
courts of the United States to address the problem. That’s what
lawyers do. But, according to SPLC, that is the act of an extremist.

A
comical side-note in the SPLC report was an attempt to link me to the
militias, something I’ve never engaged, in fact, I’ve never
even talked to a militia member. But there was the attempt in the report.
The exact quote was, “…Tom DeWeese, a co-founder in
1997 of United Truckers Defending the Constitution and an angry critic,
like most on the radical right, of the United Nations…”
The reference to the “United Truckers” dates back to an
effort I made in 1997 to create a nation-wide protest against the Kyoto
Climate Change Accord. I called the effort the “Strike For Liberty,”
and asked Americans across the nation to take an hour that day at noon
to protest the signing by the Clinton Administration of the global warming
treaty. To help spread the word of the strike, I enlisted a character
named the Desert Owl, a trucker who was the head of his own creation
called the United Truckers Defending the Constitution. He didn’t
do a very good job and I soon broke off contact with him At no time
was I the “co-founder” and the group was a truckers association
– not a militia! Such is the comical inaccuracies of the SPLC.
Any wonder why these paranoid clowns think we are all terrorists? I
do take full credit for being “angry” about the UN, however.

The
Southern Poverty Law Center is nothing but a mouth piece of the far
left. It attacks honest people who are expressing concerns about the
issues of our day – just as free Americans have done since George
Washington and Thomas Jefferson. In all of my participation with the
so-called freedom movement, never have I heard any legitimate leaders
express a need for violence against the government. To the contrary,
activists like Bob Schulz had prepared items like the Articles of
Freedom, precisely to be used as tools for legal, peaceful action.

Nor
have I ever heard a single person express racist attitudes against Barack
Obama. It’s the policies we oppose -- just as we did against Bill
and Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson. And for that matter,
we also opposed big government policies perpetrated by George Bush and
Richard Nixon.

Americans
are growing more frustrated and angry by the day for one simple reason
– our elected officials are not listening. More
than 80% of Americans oppose illegal immigration, but Congress continues
to try to force amnesty. More than 80% of Americans opposed the bailouts
– but Congress did it anyway. More than 65% of Americans opposed
the health care bill – but Obama and Pelosi played the dirtiest,
rawest political power games in the history of Congress to get it passed
anyway. As a result, many Americans rightly feel that our government
is no longer representing the people and so they are fighting back through
rallies and radio call in shows.

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Yet,
when we try to speak out, as is our Constitutional right, the Southern
Poverty Law Center calls us extremists? It’s nothing more that
left-wing McCarthyism. The Southern Poverty Law Center is not about
protecting civil rights, rather it’s a corrupt bully that fosters
hate and fear mongering in its purist form.